Unexpected Ways to Use Pickle Juice Around Your Home and Garden
After finishing a jar of pickles, there is often quite a bit of juice left over. If you’ve ever stared at all that leftover brine and wondered if there was some way to recycle or reuse it, this is your lucky day. There are several ways you can reuse the juice around the house, and some of them are quite unexpected and surprising. From use as a soil amendment in your flower beds to restoring the shine to your copper pots, there are lots of interesting and inventive ways to use pickle juice around the house and garden.
Caption: Get creative with leftover pickle juice
Pickle Other Vegetables
You shouldn’t use pickle juice to make new pickles. The brine you use for this purpose requires a certain amount of salt and vinegar to prevent bacteria and preserve the food long-term. And, some of those ingredients are absorbed by the original pickles. You can, however, use leftover brine to fridge pickle other vegetables. This is a great way to squeeze some extra life out of your garden when the harvest is plentiful and you get a few more veggies than you bargained for.
To pickle fresh produce, boil the pickle juice on the stove or in the microwave. Put the veggies in a jar, pour the boiling juice over them, and close the lid. You should let the veggies sit in the fridge for at least 5 hours before serving them and you can safely store them there for up to a week. Vegetables that work well for this include onions, carrots, garlic, and green beans.
Caption: Pickle fresh produce with leftover juice
Remove Rust
Vinegar is an effective rust remover. Pickle juice is full of vinegar and can be used to remove oxidation. This is a great trick for cleaning old rusty tools. You’ll want to have some baking soda handy too as this will neutralize the acid in the vinegar when you’re done removing the rust. This ensures that it doesn’t go too deep and begins pitting the surface of your tools.
To remove rust, soak the rusty item in the pickle juice or soak a paper towel with the juice and wrap the item in it. Leave it to soak for 3 to 24 hours depending on the severity of the rust. Then, neutralize the acid in the pickle juice by sprinkling the tool with baking soda. You can then scrub the rust away, rinsing the area in warm water when you’re done. You can use an abrasive scrubber like steel wool to help remove the rust if necessary.
Caption: Remove rust with pickle juice
Give Your Plants a Boost
Some plants just love acidic soil, and pickle juice is full of acidic vinegar. You can use this pickle juice gardening hack to boost your hydrangeas, rhododendrons, azaleas, and other acid-loving plants. It’s generally a good idea to test your soil before applying brine, however, as it may already be acidic enough. If not, some pickle juice may be the perfect soil amendment as it also contains Lactobacillus. This beneficial bacteria helps break down organic matter in the soil so that it is more readily available for plants. Plus, it suppresses the growth of certain fungi and harmful bacteria that can make plants sick.
To use pickle juice in the garden effectively, you must dilute it because of the salt content. For use as a soil amendment, apply it near but not directly on the plants or their roots. You can also use the brine as a foliar spray to improve plant health, but you must dilute the pickle juice in copious amounts of water when using it this way. If you want to make sure it is mild enough, test it on a few leaves before spraying the entire plant.
Caption: Boost your plants with pickle juice
Use as a Natural Weed Killer
While pickle juice can help acid-loving plants when properly applied as a soil amendment, the acid in the vinegar as well as the salt can be deadly to other plants. However, this makes it perfect when you’re battling weeds. You may need to keep it far away from your landscaping beds to avoid hindering your favorite flowers. So, many gardening experts claim that it’s an excellent weed killer for ones that are sprouting in cracks in your sidewalk or driveway.
Clean the Stove and Grill
Pickle juice is mostly vinegar, and according to research, vinegar makes a great cleaner for stubborn dirt around the house. In fact, pickle juice is an excellent cleaner for your grill or stovetop. You can pour it on, let it sit for a few minutes, and then scrub your grill or (more gently) your stove.
Caption: Clean your stove with pickle juice
Shine Copper Pots and Pans
Copper pans have a beautiful luster but they can lose their shine as you use them in the kitchen. But, leftover pickle juice can restore their gleam. This awesome trick is backed by science and has to do with a chemical reaction. Copper dulls when its atoms combine with oxygen and create copper oxide. When mixed as they are in pickle juice, acid (vinegar) and salt dissolve this copper oxide and leave your pots gleaming like new.
Caption: Shine copper pots with pickle juice
Make a Fly Trap
It can be tough to get rid of flies that invade your space. Whether you’re dealing with a single pest or have some fruit flies hanging around your kitchen, you can use pickle juice to make a fly trap. The liquid makes a great lure for your trap since flies are naturally attracted to the vinegar in it.
Caption: Catch flies with pickle juice
A Few Pickle Juice Don’ts
If you’re online looking for ways to use leftover pickle juice, you’re bound to run into a few bad ideas. Some websites suggest spraying pickle juice on furniture or areas you want dogs to stay away from. The problem with this theory is that many dogs are food-motivated, and pickles are food. Their juice also contains high concentrations of sodium and can lead to salt poisoning in dogs. Plus, there’s the fact that pickle juice can stain fabrics, so spraying it on the couch or carpet is a bad plan.
